Our Tree of Red Sun
by Riyazura
Summary: A pre-Ori and the Blind Forest ficlet; Leru and Reem, two guardian spirits of Nibel from before the forest became blind, form a new friendship. One of them lends the other valuable advice from where they are both perched atop a tree, enshrouded in the red horizon's glow.


Leru etched linear letters laboriously on the piece of bark she'd found that same afternoon. Every time Reem took a glance beside him on the tree branch that they shared in the forest of Swallow's Nest, she was crossing out the last sentence she'd written furiously.

Finally he pricked his leaf-like ears back and demanded, "What are you trying to write?"

Leru lifted her sharpened twig from her shield of wood she had been inscribing to respond exasperatedly, "A poem! I can't get it just right!"

Reem cocked his head, considering advice to give her with a puckered lip, until he said thoughtfully: "A poem doesn't have to be perfect. Maybe you could rewrite it a few times over. But keep what you want it to be in mind when you start on the next version." Reem watched how the wind made the darkening trees whisper, and how the sun sank into the fiery reds and oranges of the horizon. "What is your poem about?"

"It's about how pretty the sunset is here in Nibel."

"Hmm... So you're writing a free verse poem?"

Leru gazed at him quietly, her mottled dark blue orbs reflecting the golden sun. "Yeah."

Reem loosened himself, letting his hooves sway from the tree limb Leru and he were basking upon. "There are different kinds of writing, you know, like...sonnets, limericks, haikus..."

"Haikus?" Leru repeated. "I think I know the other two, but what are those?"

"Oh, they're easy. There are three lines in haikus; the first and last lines are 5 syllables. The middle one is seven."

"Oh." Leru twiddled with the sharpened twig in her hand. She gazed at her wooden shield once more.

Leru and Reem gazed at the forest around them. The river below mirrored the strokes of the clouds as the green trees whispered, boasting the blazing golden glow of the sky on their leaves.

Leru now confidently scratched another symbol of Horun on her shield's already raspy surface. As Leru started to sketch more letters, Reem decided to play his tiny pan flute he'd favored carrying along on his adventures.

In between them had sprouted a moment of tranquility. As Reem played his pan flute, other youthful spirits had decided to play together below them. The group of youngsters' vibrant friendships were evident through their action-filled play, visible from the branches above where Leru was sitting.

She could tell from the Nibellian they spoke that the five of them were planning who would be the next leader of the game they were playing. She scribbled another few lines onto her wooden shield.

Reem had reached the last notes of the song he'd decided to play, and when he was done, he scooted over to Leru and asked, "How is the haiku going?"

"I'm _almost_ done," she murmured contentedly, the ghost of a smile appearing on her face.

Reem listened to the water rhythmically lapping along the river's edge below as he waited.

Finally Leru set her twig aside and picked a couple of splinters out of the piece of bark. "Done." She handed it to an attentive Reem.

_Reem plays his pan flute_

_As children frolic below_

_Our tree of red sun_

"Not everything is perfect just yet," Leru added.

"Well, it's not supposed to be on your first try," Reem responded casually, "but I think this is so good that it doesn't _have_ to be redone."

Leru thought for a moment. "I think I'll come back here tomorrow afternoon."

Reem angled his sharp-tipped ears toward her. "Do you want me to come with?" His eyes squinted up with a wondrous hope.

"If you want to."

"Well," Reem continued as he slid off of his branch and landed on the grassy ground beside the water, "I'll see you tomorrow afternoon, before sunset." He gazed up at the guardian spirit with the shine of a smile in his cheerful eyes. "This tree is _'our_ tree' now."

Leru blinked and grinned, swinging her hooves back and forth. "Mm-hmm."

As the moon came out, Leru lay atop her tree limb. Perhaps she would sleep there for the night. The countless leaves above provided a comforting sense of protection where the stars didn't shine through like diamond embers of a campfire.

The silver face of the moon had begun to ascend in the darkening sky. As her eyelids drooped, Leru could hear a pan flute being played in the north, from the direction of the Ginso Tree...

* * *

_I think this is one of my favorite stories I've ever written. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do!_

_~ Riyazura_


End file.
